Got sick of being dependant on everyone in the house to accompany me on such tasks as buying toilet paper and Diet Cokes and so I decided to take Friday (a day off here) to try and understand the city of Sanaa.
Navigating the city is challenging for a few reasons. The first is that everything looks the same. All the buildings have the general same architecture and when I look at it all I really notice is that it doesn’t look Samoan. Also, all the signs are in Arabic. I am not talking about the street signs (which don’t exist, another reason why it is hard to find your way around) but rather the store signs. Because I can’t read them I can’t use them as points of reference. Finally, a lot of the shops close for prayer and other events and a closed shop looks completely different from an open shop. The storefronts are basically garage doors and there are no windows. When you open you open the door and that becomes your entrance as well as your display. So on a Friday morning when everything is closed you can think that you are in a different city even if you’ve lived here for a year.
So I announced that I was going out by myself to check out the main shopping street, Hadda street (sort of the Ave for Sanaa). Cyanne decided to send me out on a scavenger hunt and buy various things from useful stores. Unfortunately these so-called Yemen experts forgot that everything is closed on Friday until about 4PM, so the hunt was pretty much a failure, but I still managed to find all the stores and confirm that they were in fact closed.
I wanted up to the old city, about an hour walk and decided to head in. I wouldn’t have tried it if it wasn’t for the fact that I left armed with my trusty GPS and the compass that Ram gave me as a goodbye present. I pulled out the GPS and stood there trying to look inconspicuous while I waited for it to calibrate. All day, by the way, I saw not one westerner. I was the only unveiled woman there, and I soon realized that I was standing there with a device in my hand that looked (with it’s little raised antenna and me glancing at it nervously every ten seconds or so) like a bomb trigger.
I marked the position of the front gate and headed in. The old city is huge and pretty much a maze. Everything looks EXACTLY the same, even to people who have lived there for a while, and all the streets will bend into subtle u-turns and dead ends without any warning. I didn’t have a hard time, however. I had a map of the old city which would have been useless if it wasn’t for the fact that all the mosques (about 20 in all) were marked. The mosques, with their huge towers, were easy to spot and I could sound out the Arabic well enough to figure out which one I was looking at. By hopping from mosque to mosque like a character in frogger I was able to get around without switching on my detonator-shaped GPS (I would still be there if it wasn’t for the compass, however).
(I decided not to bring my camera. Next time, I promise!)
What Next?
26 May, 2006
25 May, 2006
A Night out in Sanaa
Just got back from my first experience clubbing and I can say that clubbing in Yemen is just as lame as clubbing in Samoa or Seattle or anywhere else that I might imagine.
Yes, it’s the same lame music, the same flashing lights, and the same posing people tramping boredly around the dance floor. Yes, when I arrived they were playing some Arabic music, but this quickly changed to what my friend Jacob would call “bum-chicca-bum” music as if they felt that us foreigners would be more comfortable with this.
After a while, I snuck into the bathroom and stood in wonder at the mirrors and the shine. It was easily the nicest bathroom that I had seen in more then two years. I marveled at the flush toilets and the toilet paper that was neatly folded to make a little triangle and resisted the temptation to put it back into the same shape. (I was also tempted to go back a few mintues later to see if it magically transformed back to that shape after I used it, like something out of 1001 nights.)
When I returned from the bathroom, the DJ apparently took my absence as a cue to play some traditional Yemenese night club music and the patrons even decided to perform a traditional Yemenese dance. Or rather, it would have been traditional if the men weren’t so drunk and horny and the woman weren’t dressed in shirts and shorts to tight that they were threatening to burst out of with every wiggle. (Traditional Yemenese dance is pretty much as boring as traditional Samoan dance (see “A Easter Adventure”) however since it is done in groups and consists mostly of kicking and stomping the floor as you dance around in circles it’s a bit more fun to watch.) Apparently those girls had shown up earlier in the full burkas and then tossed them off to reveal clothes that made us suspect that they were prostitutes, leaving me to later gaze in curiosity at every black-veiled woman on the street, wondering exactly what they are hiding under there.
Yes, it’s the same lame music, the same flashing lights, and the same posing people tramping boredly around the dance floor. Yes, when I arrived they were playing some Arabic music, but this quickly changed to what my friend Jacob would call “bum-chicca-bum” music as if they felt that us foreigners would be more comfortable with this.
After a while, I snuck into the bathroom and stood in wonder at the mirrors and the shine. It was easily the nicest bathroom that I had seen in more then two years. I marveled at the flush toilets and the toilet paper that was neatly folded to make a little triangle and resisted the temptation to put it back into the same shape. (I was also tempted to go back a few mintues later to see if it magically transformed back to that shape after I used it, like something out of 1001 nights.)
When I returned from the bathroom, the DJ apparently took my absence as a cue to play some traditional Yemenese night club music and the patrons even decided to perform a traditional Yemenese dance. Or rather, it would have been traditional if the men weren’t so drunk and horny and the woman weren’t dressed in shirts and shorts to tight that they were threatening to burst out of with every wiggle. (Traditional Yemenese dance is pretty much as boring as traditional Samoan dance (see “A Easter Adventure”) however since it is done in groups and consists mostly of kicking and stomping the floor as you dance around in circles it’s a bit more fun to watch.) Apparently those girls had shown up earlier in the full burkas and then tossed them off to reveal clothes that made us suspect that they were prostitutes, leaving me to later gaze in curiosity at every black-veiled woman on the street, wondering exactly what they are hiding under there.
Miss Kim!! Teacher Kim!!
My head is all messed up due to the schedules in this country. The week starts on Saturday and ends on Thursday. I arrived on a Thursday morning and started work on Saturday. As a result what feels like, say, Wednesday is actually Monday. So I spent most of my first week feeling like it was going by really slowly. I can’t believe that I have only been here a week!
I am working at a local natural gas company, and we are training people to work with internationals at various spots. To do this, they need excellent speaking and listening skills, especially when conversing with people who are also speaking English as a second language. (The head of the training center is a wonderful Frenchman.)
The gods smiled on me when I got this assignment… it is probably one of the better teaching jobs in Yemen. To begin with, I have access to the best facilities and teaching tools… the office that I am in is comparable to my situation at Microsoft. Plus there is free tea and coffee, free soda and a free lunch everyday (sound familiar to anyone?) But the best part is that I am working with some of the smartest students in the country. These 90 students were picked out of a pool of more then 16,000 applicants, and so I am working with the best of the best. They are all college educated and without question brighter then I am. It is a bit of a shock to work with students who are so sharp. The first day, I allocated 20 minutes for “introductions”, which included a 5 minute section where I would allow the students to ask me questions. “Do you have any questions for me?” is practically a rhetorical question in many of the classes that I have taught in the past and I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually ask anything. Wrong. They questioned me for 45 minutes on topics ranging from my first thoughts about Yemen to what life is like in Samoa, requesting me to speak a smattering of the language and asking about the housing and the food. I finally had to cut it short to start the lesson, something that I don’t think that I have ever done before.
I have had so much fun with this class. Unfortunately, during the next session I am being moved to another group, a more remedial group. I requested this change simply because my students that I have now are so bright that I feel I am not challenging them enough. We will still be at the same center, but I will miss them nonetheless. I am sure that I will like my new students just as much.
Today we had an “activity day” where we played various games including a scavenger hunt and logic puzzles. I ran the logic puzzles, which consisted of matchstick puzzles (where you make roman n umber equations like “XI – IV = V” and have to move one matchstick to make it work: “XI – V = VI”). We also played Su Duku puzzles, previously unheard of in Yemen but imported from Samoa via Seattle by Dylan (thanks Dyl!) and which also proved to be a great hit. I lost my voice eventually but it was a real thrill to be called over with a “Miss Kim!” to to see a Yemeni adult grinning like a child to show off his latest solution and receive a pat on the shoulder and a “good job” from me.
I really love teaching here. I can’t say it enough. I really love Yemen. There are a lot of things that I don’t like—the honking of the cars takes a definite first and being the only unveiled woman (all the woman wear the full burka here, but I am asked not to in order to model a “western woman”) wandering the street… but I still love it.
My Arabic isn’t going all that well, and I think that most annoying thing is that I can say everything that I want to say in Samoan, and subconsciously I think that should be enough. My teachers and friends assure me that I just need to be patient and that I will have a breakthrough in reading, and that things will be easier after that. I can’t take the busses by myself because I can’t read the signs and I can’t find my way around the city because I can’t identify the landmarks. Everything looks the same to me, but it just gives me greater motivation to learn.
I get a week off now, and I am going to spend that time at MALI observing classes to get a better idea of the way that MALI teaches, and I also hope to pick up some more Arabic during that time.
I am working at a local natural gas company, and we are training people to work with internationals at various spots. To do this, they need excellent speaking and listening skills, especially when conversing with people who are also speaking English as a second language. (The head of the training center is a wonderful Frenchman.)
The gods smiled on me when I got this assignment… it is probably one of the better teaching jobs in Yemen. To begin with, I have access to the best facilities and teaching tools… the office that I am in is comparable to my situation at Microsoft. Plus there is free tea and coffee, free soda and a free lunch everyday (sound familiar to anyone?) But the best part is that I am working with some of the smartest students in the country. These 90 students were picked out of a pool of more then 16,000 applicants, and so I am working with the best of the best. They are all college educated and without question brighter then I am. It is a bit of a shock to work with students who are so sharp. The first day, I allocated 20 minutes for “introductions”, which included a 5 minute section where I would allow the students to ask me questions. “Do you have any questions for me?” is practically a rhetorical question in many of the classes that I have taught in the past and I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually ask anything. Wrong. They questioned me for 45 minutes on topics ranging from my first thoughts about Yemen to what life is like in Samoa, requesting me to speak a smattering of the language and asking about the housing and the food. I finally had to cut it short to start the lesson, something that I don’t think that I have ever done before.
I have had so much fun with this class. Unfortunately, during the next session I am being moved to another group, a more remedial group. I requested this change simply because my students that I have now are so bright that I feel I am not challenging them enough. We will still be at the same center, but I will miss them nonetheless. I am sure that I will like my new students just as much.
Today we had an “activity day” where we played various games including a scavenger hunt and logic puzzles. I ran the logic puzzles, which consisted of matchstick puzzles (where you make roman n umber equations like “XI – IV = V” and have to move one matchstick to make it work: “XI – V = VI”). We also played Su Duku puzzles, previously unheard of in Yemen but imported from Samoa via Seattle by Dylan (thanks Dyl!) and which also proved to be a great hit. I lost my voice eventually but it was a real thrill to be called over with a “Miss Kim!” to to see a Yemeni adult grinning like a child to show off his latest solution and receive a pat on the shoulder and a “good job” from me.
I really love teaching here. I can’t say it enough. I really love Yemen. There are a lot of things that I don’t like—the honking of the cars takes a definite first and being the only unveiled woman (all the woman wear the full burka here, but I am asked not to in order to model a “western woman”) wandering the street… but I still love it.
My Arabic isn’t going all that well, and I think that most annoying thing is that I can say everything that I want to say in Samoan, and subconsciously I think that should be enough. My teachers and friends assure me that I just need to be patient and that I will have a breakthrough in reading, and that things will be easier after that. I can’t take the busses by myself because I can’t read the signs and I can’t find my way around the city because I can’t identify the landmarks. Everything looks the same to me, but it just gives me greater motivation to learn.
I get a week off now, and I am going to spend that time at MALI observing classes to get a better idea of the way that MALI teaches, and I also hope to pick up some more Arabic during that time.
23 May, 2006
A bunch of firsts!!!
First time riding the buses. I didn't even realize that they were buses until we got into one. The buses here are little minivans that shoot around the city, making impossible U-Turns and blasting their horns for the slightest reason. There are only two rows of facing seats in them, and the women aren't allowed to sit with the men so often people aren't allowed to get on. It is a pretty efficient system, however—the buses are always full and there are a ton of them. And the ride is only 20 Rials—that's one penny. (Divide by two then multiply by .001 to convert rials to dollars.)
We were taking the buses for my first trip Old City of Sanaa, and it blew me away. I had the day off teaching due to the fact that it was "Unity Day", which celebrates the 1992 unity of the north and the south. I don't have the pictures right now, but it really was like the set of a movie. Small streets winding through endless markets… I went with a few of the other teachers and one of the first things that we had to do was return the key. They had lived in the old city for a while and had to return their key for the apartment. We walked in and headed up a long flight of stairs and I discovered that the air really is a lot thinner up here as I was huffing and puffing after just one flight. But once we got to the top it was all worth it. It was a beautiful view of the old city and you could see the entire city of Sanaa. And just as we got there, the call for prayer went off and all the mosques around us started blasting Arabic chanting. It was wonderful. As I said, I will try to get pictures because I really can't describe it right now in words.
I had my first experience of buying something (a coke) at a shop by myself for the first time. I know that this doesn't sound like a big deal but remember that no one speaks English here, they are not used to foreigners and I hardly speak any Arabic. My friends were looking at a furniture shop and I jumped away for a minute and it was my first time on my own.
Finally, at the Old City I had my first experience buying falafels at a local restaurant. They were incredible, but they led to my first case of food poisoning and my first day of trying to teach when I couldn't stand. Canceling classes here isn't really done. Thank god for Cyanne who combined our classes because I couldn't stand and could barely speak without my stomach going haywire. But I feel fine today—15 hours of sleep will do that for you!!!
We were taking the buses for my first trip Old City of Sanaa, and it blew me away. I had the day off teaching due to the fact that it was "Unity Day", which celebrates the 1992 unity of the north and the south. I don't have the pictures right now, but it really was like the set of a movie. Small streets winding through endless markets… I went with a few of the other teachers and one of the first things that we had to do was return the key. They had lived in the old city for a while and had to return their key for the apartment. We walked in and headed up a long flight of stairs and I discovered that the air really is a lot thinner up here as I was huffing and puffing after just one flight. But once we got to the top it was all worth it. It was a beautiful view of the old city and you could see the entire city of Sanaa. And just as we got there, the call for prayer went off and all the mosques around us started blasting Arabic chanting. It was wonderful. As I said, I will try to get pictures because I really can't describe it right now in words.
I had my first experience of buying something (a coke) at a shop by myself for the first time. I know that this doesn't sound like a big deal but remember that no one speaks English here, they are not used to foreigners and I hardly speak any Arabic. My friends were looking at a furniture shop and I jumped away for a minute and it was my first time on my own.
Finally, at the Old City I had my first experience buying falafels at a local restaurant. They were incredible, but they led to my first case of food poisoning and my first day of trying to teach when I couldn't stand. Canceling classes here isn't really done. Thank god for Cyanne who combined our classes because I couldn't stand and could barely speak without my stomach going haywire. But I feel fine today—15 hours of sleep will do that for you!!!
21 May, 2006
Click
So people who spoke with me right before I left Samoa heard me say that although Samoa was a wonderful country, we never really “clicked”. I liked Samoa and I could see why people would want to live there. But there was never really this feeling on my part of “this place is great and I want to spent my life here”. I had a “click” in Palestine after about a week and I had my Yemen “click” last night. Yes, I know it’s soon.
Admittedly I was in a good mood because I just got back my luggage. Like a fool, I had packed a lot of really special stuff. (When you only own 75 pounds of stuff, it’s all pretty special.) Uni, my stuffed unicorn who I have had as long as I can remember, was in there as well as the goodbye presents and cards from my students and friends. Anyway I degrees but needless to say I was pretty glad to get the stuff back!
Anyway, on the way back I let out a cry of surprise that nearly got us killed in the taxi. (Forget terrorists, if I am going to die here it’s going to be in a taxi accident.) There was some sort of atmospherical phenomenon that I had never seen before. In the middle of the blue sky, there was a bright oval spot of light in the sky and all around it was rainbows. It looked like the sky was opening to heaven. If I was much younger I would have thought that it was the hole in the ozone layer. As I stared in wonder (and wished that my camera was one of the things that I had checked) I looked at the mountains rising above us and saw houses that lined the top. Arabic script was everywhere, from the standard typed stuff to the unreadable graffiti and stylized advertisements to the artistic pages of the Koran that covered the doors of the mosques. And there was a guy in a white robe and a dagger shoved in his belt chewing qat hiking up one of the hills. It was all so much to take in, and suddenly click. I felt that I had never been so happy to be anywhere in my life.
20 May, 2006
Yemen!
There is so much to say that I hardly know where to start! Yemen is wonderful, it is better then I ever dared to hope. Everything is perfect.
I am living in a house with four other girls and one guy. Skye told me that I was insane to pass up the offered studio apartment, but I chose this because I figured that amoung other things it would be safer. It was the right choice on my part. For starters, the house is already stocked with everything that I might need, which was a good thing considering it took me three days to get my luggage (which I did finally get!) I have a adorable little room, and there is a living room that is complete with a TV, VCR, DVD player and a ton of DVD’s that the other students buy. (DVD’s here are about $3.) There is a shower and a bathtub with hot water and a huge kitchen that has a water cooler in it. Yet with all it’s amities, the place still gives you a feel of “roughing it”. I feel that I am living in less luxury then I was in Samoa. The whole thing sort of has a college dorm feel to it, which was always my favorite type of housing.
One of the first people that I met here was Cyanne, an ex-pat from Hawaii and southern Illinois. We have a lot in common and became fast friends. She is really neat. She is a Muslin who goes out fully veiled (with the scarf over the face, most woman here dress like that but surprisingly I am not expected to—I don’t even wear a veil) and I found that looking at these woman they are quiet and meek. Not Cyanne, and not any of the woman that I have met. Cyanne is in your face, full of energy and is overall awesome. She gave me clothes, advice, and food when I first got here. We drink coffee together and go out shopping. She is exactly what I wanted in a roommate!
Yemen is very, well, tan. After Samoa it is a shock to see the amount of dust and lack of greenery that I became used to. Samoa was dirty, but it was more of a muddy dirt. This place is full of dust—a lighter cover that you feel that you can blow away. Samoan dust stuck. There are no bugs here either. The occasional fly and that’s about it. Some bug was flying around my classroom today and I was so amazed to see it that I just stared at it. I still jump at small shadows and dust bunnies thinking that they are cockroaches.
My students are brilliant. The company that I worked for picked 90 students out of more then 16,000 applicants and so I get the best of the best of the best. It’s a bit odd to be teaching people that are way smarter then I would ever hope to be, but they are great and funny. On the first day I asked if they had any questions for me. With a lot of my formal students I often felt that when I asked questions they were practically rhetorical. Not these guys! They questioned me for 45 minutes, asking all about Samoa. They wanted to know about the language, the people, the houses that they lived in and so on. They demanded that I speak some Samoan and asked me to do a presentation. I was blown away! Today we watched “The Day After Tomorrow” and had a debate about global warming. They were yelling and arguing and everyone had a great time. As a ESL teacher we are supposed to use the communicative approach so if I am doing my job right I am babysitting more then teaching. And my students are so fun that it hardly feels like work. The only problem is that they are so bright that I feel that I am not pushing them to their full potential!
And the FOOD!!!! Oh my God!! Every time someone complains here it makes me laugh. It’s all so wonderful and they don’t each much fried stuff, so it’s actually pretty healthy. The big cheap food is the vegetables. And Cyanne loves to cook! Plus we have Chinese and Ethiopian restaurants here that I hear are very good.
I’ve only been here for two days and it still feels like a dream.
I am living in a house with four other girls and one guy. Skye told me that I was insane to pass up the offered studio apartment, but I chose this because I figured that amoung other things it would be safer. It was the right choice on my part. For starters, the house is already stocked with everything that I might need, which was a good thing considering it took me three days to get my luggage (which I did finally get!) I have a adorable little room, and there is a living room that is complete with a TV, VCR, DVD player and a ton of DVD’s that the other students buy. (DVD’s here are about $3.) There is a shower and a bathtub with hot water and a huge kitchen that has a water cooler in it. Yet with all it’s amities, the place still gives you a feel of “roughing it”. I feel that I am living in less luxury then I was in Samoa. The whole thing sort of has a college dorm feel to it, which was always my favorite type of housing.
One of the first people that I met here was Cyanne, an ex-pat from Hawaii and southern Illinois. We have a lot in common and became fast friends. She is really neat. She is a Muslin who goes out fully veiled (with the scarf over the face, most woman here dress like that but surprisingly I am not expected to—I don’t even wear a veil) and I found that looking at these woman they are quiet and meek. Not Cyanne, and not any of the woman that I have met. Cyanne is in your face, full of energy and is overall awesome. She gave me clothes, advice, and food when I first got here. We drink coffee together and go out shopping. She is exactly what I wanted in a roommate!
Yemen is very, well, tan. After Samoa it is a shock to see the amount of dust and lack of greenery that I became used to. Samoa was dirty, but it was more of a muddy dirt. This place is full of dust—a lighter cover that you feel that you can blow away. Samoan dust stuck. There are no bugs here either. The occasional fly and that’s about it. Some bug was flying around my classroom today and I was so amazed to see it that I just stared at it. I still jump at small shadows and dust bunnies thinking that they are cockroaches.
My students are brilliant. The company that I worked for picked 90 students out of more then 16,000 applicants and so I get the best of the best of the best. It’s a bit odd to be teaching people that are way smarter then I would ever hope to be, but they are great and funny. On the first day I asked if they had any questions for me. With a lot of my formal students I often felt that when I asked questions they were practically rhetorical. Not these guys! They questioned me for 45 minutes, asking all about Samoa. They wanted to know about the language, the people, the houses that they lived in and so on. They demanded that I speak some Samoan and asked me to do a presentation. I was blown away! Today we watched “The Day After Tomorrow” and had a debate about global warming. They were yelling and arguing and everyone had a great time. As a ESL teacher we are supposed to use the communicative approach so if I am doing my job right I am babysitting more then teaching. And my students are so fun that it hardly feels like work. The only problem is that they are so bright that I feel that I am not pushing them to their full potential!
And the FOOD!!!! Oh my God!! Every time someone complains here it makes me laugh. It’s all so wonderful and they don’t each much fried stuff, so it’s actually pretty healthy. The big cheap food is the vegetables. And Cyanne loves to cook! Plus we have Chinese and Ethiopian restaurants here that I hear are very good.
I’ve only been here for two days and it still feels like a dream.
18 May, 2006
Safe in Yemen!
Just a quick note to let you know that I arrived safely in Yemen, which unfortunately is more then I can say for my baggage. Everything is wonderful, much better then I dared to dream. I can not talk long, but I post more details to the blog later.
Just so you know, this place is really safe. I am living right in the middle of one of the more heavily policed areas and I am living with three other teachers in a wonderful hostel-like apartment.
15 May, 2006
And she's off...
All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside the door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye...
I'm leaving on a jet plane!
Don't know when I'll be back again,
Oh babe, I hate to go...
Hey everyone, this will be my last entry before I take off for Yemen. I am leaving at 12:45 Tuesday morning (Samoan time, that's about 3 in the morning Seattle time) and I will be getting in at 2AM in the morning on Thursday, Yemen time. I am not sure how that translates into Samoan time but I know that I will go from being way behind everyone to about 7 or 8 hours ahead. I am flying from Samoa to LA to Frankfurt to Cairo to Yemen. Yes, it would be a lot smarter for me to go the other way. Don't ask.
I will try to get to a computer as soon as I touch down so that you all know that I got there safe. Until then, wish me luck and keep an eye out!
I'm standing here outside the door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye...
I'm leaving on a jet plane!
Don't know when I'll be back again,
Oh babe, I hate to go...
Hey everyone, this will be my last entry before I take off for Yemen. I am leaving at 12:45 Tuesday morning (Samoan time, that's about 3 in the morning Seattle time) and I will be getting in at 2AM in the morning on Thursday, Yemen time. I am not sure how that translates into Samoan time but I know that I will go from being way behind everyone to about 7 or 8 hours ahead. I am flying from Samoa to LA to Frankfurt to Cairo to Yemen. Yes, it would be a lot smarter for me to go the other way. Don't ask.
I will try to get to a computer as soon as I touch down so that you all know that I got there safe. Until then, wish me luck and keep an eye out!
12 May, 2006
The Girls of 386... and Wellington
From Left to right: ??, Tooa, ??, ?? Entole, Agnes, and Wellington at the bottom.(Yes, Tooa is giving the photographer the finger. I'm not sure if this was her intent.)
11 May, 2006
Yemen approaches...
I thought that Yemen was a type of noodle. – Wellington Seufale
There has been a rather interesting reaction in Samoa to my heading to Yemen, my favorite of which is the quote above. Sarah, bless her heart, responded by immediately sending me a bunch of articles on Yemen and a report back from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) website. She told me a few things about what it said, but the only fact that she gave me that really stuck was that there are no mosquitoes in Sanaa due to the altitude. (I am SO there.)
The first people who were officially told were the Peace Corps. They were incredibly understanding. I had expected them to be disappointed or angry, I really should have known better. They were excited for me and eager to hear about my new job. They suggested that I talk with my job myself and let them know that I was planning on leaving. I quickly gathered together my things and went to do so.
A strange thing happened then. You see, I have a watch that Sarah and Dylan gave me and it's one of my more treasured possessions because whenever I look at it I think of them. It was one of the last gifts that was given to me before I left. Anyway, after I talked to the Peace Corps I did some shopping and a bit later noticed that my watch had stopped at 8:16 that morning. Which begs the question: what was I doing at 8:16 that caused my watch to stop? I did some math in my head. I had arrived at the office at 8:07, and had looked at my watch to make sure that the office was open. I went in and waited for a few minutes to talk with Jackie. Then after some small talk I dropped the bomb, officially going past The Point of No Return. In other words, the watch that Sarah and Dylan gave me as going-to-Samoa present stopped the minute that I told Jackie that I would be leaving Samoa. Weird, huh? (Fortunately it only cost me $12 tala to get it fixed.)
Headed back to work. I had two people at my job to tell—my dean and the head of my department. Since I was giving them a single week notice I understood that they would be pretty pissed at me. I told my dean and she was disappointed but supportive. She asked if I was sure that I couldn't stay a few more weeks and I assured her that this was not possible. She told me that it sounded like a good opportunity and wished me luck. I walked out of her office feeling like a real fink.
The conversation with my department head changed that that feeling very quickly. She became quite angry and started out by telling me that I could not leave, due to some shadowy non-existent contract that I was bound to. She told me that if I was to leave she would "write me up to the Peace Corps". (I told her to go ahead.) She called me irresponsible and she told me that "they" had not wanted me to come in the first place but had made room for me because I wanted to come. In other words, she could not have made me more eager to leave the job had she stood up and thrown a rock at me. If this was her trying to get me to stay, I wondered what she would do to me to try and get me to leave. Needless to say, I left her office knowing that I made the right choice, and so for this conversation I am thankful.
Afterwards, I started to tell the other Peace Corps volunteers. I decided that I didn't to announce it and rather decided to tell people as it came up. Now you might think that something like this wouldn't come up very often, but you are wrong. A friend invited me to dinner the next week: "Sorry, I can't, I'll be in Yemen." I was asked if I would be able to attend a dance practice Tuesday: "No, I'll be flying to Yemen." "Hey Tima, what brings you to the office today?" You get the idea. Most people thought that I was joking. The rest thought that I was insane.
I did inform the training staff right off, because sometimes they take people who ET (early terminate) a bit personally. Leata, (the "mom" trainer) was very concerned once she found out where the country was and leaned towards me and warned me that I should be very careful. "Because, well, there are a lot of, you know, Arabs there," she said in a whisper as if the people in Yemen could hear her. The look on her face was so serious and terrified that all I could do was burst out laughing, I am ashamed to say.
My students were next and I was quite touched that all my classes—including my 184, who I tend to be very mean to—were very sad to see me go. Wellington made the above comment and Werner asked me why I was going to Yemen to teach English when I couldn't spell. I told him that he made a good point but that I was still going. Sick of trying to explain where Yemen was and completely unable to create a hand-drawn map of the Middle East I started to carry a map around with me, and made Yemen the focus of a cheesy PowerPoint presentation (viewable here) to demonstrate creating tutorials for my Human-Interface class. I've turned into a new celebrity at the school, with all my students whipping out their cameras and snapping pictures of me everywhere I go. Unfortunately, I gave all my nice clothes to my family, and I am not wearing the new stuff I bought so that it can stay "fresh". Dressed in the leftover stuff that is destined for the give-away pile, I look pretty shabby. Plus my hair is in an awkward "teenage" state after a year of growth. I can't wait to start covering it.
My family. I knew that they would be the hardest to say goodbye to. I was giving them everything that I was not taking with, from all my clothes (even my Wonder Woman shirt and my glow-in-the-dark XBox Tee, now THAT'S love) to my fire dancing stick to the sponges that I never used. The Peace Corps was kind enough to drive me to Niusuatia with all my stuff (and my cat, Gigi) to give them everything and say goodbye. Unfortunately, my family did not have their phone and so there was no way I could warn them. So Tuesday afternoon Papu and I just drove onto their lawn in a Peace Corps vehicle with all my stuff in the back. Talosia, my mom, was thrilled because she thought that I was moving in, as I had threatened to do in the past. I told them no, I am going to Yemen and showed them where it was on the map. They thought that this was hilarious and asked when I was coming back. I told them that I wasn't coming back and Talosia got quiet while the kids started happily going through the stuff that I brought. Then Talosia asked when I was coming back before I left for Yemen. I told her I wasn't and she demonstrated her understanding of the situation by bursting into tears. I followed quickly after. My sister Anne just sat in a chair, shocked and dumbstruck and never said a word. All I could say was "I'm sorry… I'm sorry." I felt so terrible, among other things, for causing so much pain. If there was a time when I would have taken it all back and decided not to leave it was when I saw the look in my sister's eyes as she stood up to say goodbye to me. This was the hardest goodbye that I have ever said because I wasn't able to express how I felt, and I know that I will probably never see them again. I mean, they don't even have email. I am going to write them a letter telling them how much their love meant to me in the time that I was here.
I walked to the pastors house to say goodbye to Ruta (who was not expelled from the village after the Easter incident) and she greeted me by saying "Tima! What a surprise!" I smiled and wiped some leftover tears away (the nice thing about Samoa is that when you cry people just think that you are very hot) and told her, "Well, if you think that THIS is a surprise, just wait…"
Just a few more days. All my bags are packed and I'm SO ready to go!!!
10 May, 2006
Yemen!
This Monday I received a contract from the Modern Arabic Language Institute (MALI) in Sanaa, Yemen. I had interviewed about a week ago, and I didn't want to say anything until I actually saw the paperwork. Yup, I'm going to Yemen!
I am going to be leaving in less then a week. My flight leaves early Tuesday morning. I fly to LA, then (thanks to some help from Andrew, Dylan and Ram) finally found a flight that will take me to Yemen and allow me to fly in at 2 in the morning. I am going to be teaching English in the capital, Sanaa. I'm so excited!!! Working and living in the Middle East has been my dream ever since Palestine, and the more I read about Yemen the more that I think that I am going to love it.
The position includes (in addition to a paycheck) accomadations, arabic lessons and paid travel with visa. It's a dream come true, I keep waiting to wake up! And everyone can blame Mrs. Sarah Weed, who was the one who sent me the Transitions Abroad magazine that had the advertisement in it in the first place. (Thanks, Sarah!)
You can see the websites of where I am going to be working here:
http://www.arabicinyemen.com/
http://www.mali.com.ye/
And here is an article about MALI from the Yemen Times: MALI Takes on the Market
My contract is until December (although it sounds like I can stay). After that... who knows?!?!?
Woo hoo Yemen!!!!
I am going to be leaving in less then a week. My flight leaves early Tuesday morning. I fly to LA, then (thanks to some help from Andrew, Dylan and Ram) finally found a flight that will take me to Yemen and allow me to fly in at 2 in the morning. I am going to be teaching English in the capital, Sanaa. I'm so excited!!! Working and living in the Middle East has been my dream ever since Palestine, and the more I read about Yemen the more that I think that I am going to love it.
The position includes (in addition to a paycheck) accomadations, arabic lessons and paid travel with visa. It's a dream come true, I keep waiting to wake up! And everyone can blame Mrs. Sarah Weed, who was the one who sent me the Transitions Abroad magazine that had the advertisement in it in the first place. (Thanks, Sarah!)
You can see the websites of where I am going to be working here:
http://www.arabicinyemen.com/
http://www.mali.com.ye/
And here is an article about MALI from the Yemen Times: MALI Takes on the Market
My contract is until December (although it sounds like I can stay). After that... who knows?!?!?
Woo hoo Yemen!!!!
06 May, 2006
Password? WTF?
Yes, I have password protected this site.
The reason for this is that I am not allowed to say certain things on a "public" site and by password-protecting it I can talk more freely. Yes the protection that I use is cheesy but I just need to thwart the morons. I have chosen a password that most people who know me should know. If you don't, then you're not reading this so it doesn't matter.
Anyway, now that it's password protected I can say stuff like this:
So I went to call
Me: Hello, I was trying to place a call to
SamoaTel: What's the country?
Me:
SamoaTel: Yes, what country is that in?
Me:
SamoaTel: No it isn't.
Me: Um, yes it is. The country code is 967.
SamoaTel: 967... OK, wait. After a few minutes. Hey, Yemen IS a real country.
Me: That's right.
SamoaTel: Well, I've never heard of it. Please hold. Put on hold. Hung up on me by mistake. Not very hopeful for the SamoaTel help line. So I call back.
Me: Yes I just called. I am trying to call Yemen, country code 967.
SamoaTel: Oh yeah. Please hold. After a few minutes, comes back. I need to talk to the "boys". Can I call you back in 10 minutes?
Me: Sure.
An hour later...
Me: Hello, I called a while ago, I am trying to call
SamoaTel: Oh, hello again. I talked to the boys. You can't.
Me: Can't?
SamoaTel: No.
Me: But...
SamoaTel: We're trying to fix it.
Me: So, um, when will I be able to call
SamoaTel: I don't know. Maybe sometime soon. Try back next Friday.
Let's hope that a Yemen/Samoa crisis doesn't arrise anytime soon that involves our embassy contacting the embassy there. Anyway, fortunately the guy that I needed to talk to in
(WHY did I need to call
03 May, 2006
Tsunami!
Class is cancelled today because of a tsunami warning. There was an 8.0 earthquake off Tonga this morning at around 4AM. I didn't feel it, but a lot of other people did. The warning was cancelled about an hour ago, but it takes a while for the machine to start up here in Samoa. They are making an announcement in Samoan over the loudspeakers right now, and I am guessing by the cheers outside that classes aren't going to be resumed any time soon today.
Tonga Earthquake map from USGS
02 May, 2006
A Fun Activity
So let me tell you about something that happened in Savaii last week.
Two high schools, the Catholic Marist School and the Wesleyan Methodist School were in rugby tournament that the Marist school won. After the game, a rock broke the windshield of the parked Marist school van. This rock was probably thrown by a Wesleyan student, but no one knows for certain.
Because "they started it", the principle of the Marist school, Brother James, took his kids and brought them to a secluded part of the road and told them to get off the bus and gather stones. They waited in ambush for the Wesleyan bus to come around the corner, and the good priest instructed his sheep to start hurling their stones (rocks, really) at the unsuspecting bus.
The driver was hit in the face and veered off the road and hit a tree. A bunch of kids had to be taken to the hospital and the secretary had to be brought to the main island of Uplolu and attend the hospital here after a rock smashed her jaw. One student had a fractured wrist, but everyone was still walking. Oddly, the Samoa Observer article that came out the next day defended the Marist school, pointing out that the Wesleyan school's principal was away and therefore could not control his kids.
Both schools have been shut down and its. You can read about it in the Radio New Zealand article here: A fight with students from a rival college shuts down a school in Samoa
Now for the fun activity! Get your bibles out now!
How many of you can name parts of the Bible which would condone this behavior?
How many can name parts which would condemn it?
Two high schools, the Catholic Marist School and the Wesleyan Methodist School were in rugby tournament that the Marist school won. After the game, a rock broke the windshield of the parked Marist school van. This rock was probably thrown by a Wesleyan student, but no one knows for certain.
Because "they started it", the principle of the Marist school, Brother James, took his kids and brought them to a secluded part of the road and told them to get off the bus and gather stones. They waited in ambush for the Wesleyan bus to come around the corner, and the good priest instructed his sheep to start hurling their stones (rocks, really) at the unsuspecting bus.
The driver was hit in the face and veered off the road and hit a tree. A bunch of kids had to be taken to the hospital and the secretary had to be brought to the main island of Uplolu and attend the hospital here after a rock smashed her jaw. One student had a fractured wrist, but everyone was still walking. Oddly, the Samoa Observer article that came out the next day defended the Marist school, pointing out that the Wesleyan school's principal was away and therefore could not control his kids.
Both schools have been shut down and its. You can read about it in the Radio New Zealand article here: A fight with students from a rival college shuts down a school in Samoa
Now for the fun activity! Get your bibles out now!
How many of you can name parts of the Bible which would condone this behavior?
How many can name parts which would condemn it?
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